Understanding Islam

David Brooks

"Even the best academics can't decide which parts of Islam give rise to terror, let alone what the proper American response should be."

The Ethics and Public Policy Center has undertaken a heroic and important task: getting reporters to think about religion. A few years ago a bunch of journalists and I were flown up to Maine to learn about evangelical Christianity from a group of academics. It was an intriguing and coherent lesson on the roots and nature of evangelism from scholars such as Grant Wacker of Duke.

Then, last week, another bunch of us were flown down to Florida to learn about Islam. This conference was fascinating, but the scholars--who are tops in their fields--presented three quite different versions of Islam and the threat the West now faces in the war on terror. And I would guess that none of their descriptions fully satisfied the journalists in the audience.

For the complete article go the The Weekly Standard website.